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Monday, March 25, 2013

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TDATS 86 is another collaboration with fellow vintage rock aficionado Walter, organiser of the annual Roadburn festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Being one of the best events in the world for seeing current bands that are keeping the memory of the good old sounds alive, plus a few of the actual good old bands themselves (The Pretty Things are playing this year), It's really cool for TDATS to be associated with the fest. Take it away Walter!

Walter (arm raised) partying with the
crowds on the Roadburn dance floor

"We at Roadburn Festival are avid followers of The Day After The Sabbath! It's great to relive the heavy 70s through Rich's collections of obscure rock, and we're glad the festival inspires him as much as his comps inspire us in our work. Last year, Rich did the first TDATS Roadburn compilations with his volumes 63 and 64, and we're truly honored that he has come up with another compilation for this year's festival. What Rich has done here is collect a bunch of tracks by contemporary bands that have played at Roadburn, using their covers of 70s songs. On top of that he's added another selection of cool Dutch 60s/70s obscurities. We're currently swamped in the organisational affairs, and 'Master of My Fate' will help us to keep on track, otherwise we'd be losing it!" -- Walter / Roadburn.

Jan Hollestelle

The comp opens with a single from Jan Hollestelle, who cut his teeth as a bass player in Hilversum's beat combo "The Torero's" with his guitarist brother Hans Hollestelle. The brothers both played on the Dutch production of the musical Hair. They were in a few other groups together, including The Tower, which appears on here later, and fusion band Spin. Jan recorded an instrumental single called 'Creepy' in 1973 and here it is. I have cut it into two parts to use as the intro and outro for the set. From 1971 he became a highly-demanded session musician and also works on classical compositions.

The Atomic Bitchwax (live 2001)

Next up is The Atomic Bitchwax. They are a well-known stoner rock band which originated as a side-project of Monster Magnet lead guitarist Ed Mundell, ex-Godspeed bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik, and drummer Keith Ackerman. Ed Mundell's place has now been taken by Finn Ryan (ex-Core). They first played on one of the early editions of Roadburn in 2001 with the founding lineup. I found a mini-review here and only 3 bands were on the bill, a number that is slightly smaller than the 60+ that have been billed over the 3 day event in recent years! This track is from that performance, during which they played 'Play The Game', which first appeared on a 1970 Atomic Rooster single.

Track 3 is from Amsterdam's Temple, which was a small project by members of other bands. They only made two singles, the most interesting track by far was the b-side, 'Triple Guitar", from the second one. Aad van de Kreeft was in Blue Planet and the George Cash band, Ron Meyjes was in Livin' Blues and The Knack, Cees Meerman was previously in Bismarc and John "Johnny" Frederiksz was also in Livin' Blues. 'Triple Guitar' is awesome, it has a really metallic feel. A third single was released under the name 'Johnny Fredericks & Temple'.

Josiah

We move on to Josiah, who were an English stoner rock/hard rock band from Leicester that played at Roadburn in 2005 and 2007. They went their separate ways in 2010 and in their ten-year existence they made four albums and three EPs. Originally comprising Mathew Bethancourt (vocals, guitar) now with Cherry Choke, Sie Beasley (bass, vocals) and Keith Beacom (drums), Bill Darlington took to the drums for a single in 2003 which had a b-side cover of Grand Funk Railroad, which is the track I have included here. It was also available on a gig-handout CD called 'Rare Cuts'. Bill is in two other bands that appear in this volume of TDATS, so he'll be mentioned again soon... Josiah also recorded another wicked cover, of Bufallo's Dead Forever. It was included on their last album, 'Procession'.

Next up is The Hague's Big Wheel, founded by producer Hans van Hemmert, and Peter Vink, who was the bass player in classic Dutch garage group Q65 (see Vol63). They released five singles between 69 and 71, and they had a great, catchy but heavy glam sound like this. I have used a b-side called 'Upside Down' which is pretty simple and short, it's a spontaneous jam with a basic verse, but it has the raw and joyful feeling of a great moment caught in time, never to repeated. They definitely had the skills to make a good album so it's a shame they did not. Hans produced and co-wrote songs for many bands, including others I have used before, like Q65, The Motions and Group 1850. The rest of Big Wheel was Cyril Havermans (vocals), Rob van der Zwan (guitar), Shell Schellekens (drums) and Peter Seilberger. Havermans and Schellekens were both in Brainbox (see Vol20) just after.

Gorilla 2010

Track 6 is from Gorilla, a UK band that made three albums last decade. They have been on recording-hiatus since other bands have been taking up the member's time, but they still play live now and again and they played Roadburn fest in 2006. They are due to get out the heavy equipment again this year for Maximum Festival 2013 in Italy. John 'Johnny Gorilla' Redfern (gtr,vox) and Sarah Jane Russel (bass,vox) have been the constant members since the 90s and at various times Richard Guppy, Malt Jones, Sammy Forway and Bill Darlington have been on drums. John has been rocking since the 80s, including Brighton heavy psych bands The Morticians and Cherokee Mist. I found some Morticians info online here: "The Redfern Bros. began to play in the mid-80s as The Giant Sunhorse; at the beginning of 1986 they found bassist Ben Jackson and changed name to The Morticians, releasing this delicious sweet at the end of next year ["Freak Out With The Morticians"]. An explosive punk side (those who don't know one original at least, lift up their own hand) and a visionary psych-side made few lucky owners happy... the first pressing of 500 ran out very soon and so did the second one of little more than a thousand, but Ben's leaving caused dissolution. At the end of 1988 a compilation of early recordings (demos and live sets) titled "She's Like Heroin" came out on Distortion Records.

The Morticians LP (1987)

Part of the 80's wave of UK Neo Psych and Garage Punk, The Morticians made one of the best lost UK psych-punk albums of that era. It's a combination of '60s styled garage punk and West Coast/Pink Fairies like acid guitar rock. Heavy distorted fuzzed out guitar solos, swirling keyboards and a really stoned atmosphere pervade this little gem that's long gone on vinyl. Includes uniquely heavy versions of "Action Woman" & "Song Of A Baker", "Blackout Of Gretely" and a totally over the top lysergic version of the Country Joe & The Fish classic "Section 43". Dave Goodman's production is raw , drenched in reverb and somehow (only God knows) he managed to hold this monstrous creation together."

In 2006 Gorilla recorded a nice fuzzed-up cover of Motorhead's 'Limb from Limb' (from 'Overkill' LP, 1979) which is what I have used in this comp. Bill D. played briefly in Josiah (as mentioned earlier), currently he and Johnny are playing in the Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, who appear on this volume later so there's some more Gorilla/Josiah/ASCS info coming up soon...

Hilversum's The Playboys seem to have mainly been a working showband, but they did record two singles. Their song 'Snoopy' was recently used in the movie 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist' and back in it's time it was used as the theme music on radio VARA's 'Sport Show' and 'Hollands Glorie' . The band was Paul Natte (keys,trumpet), Peter van den Meulenn (sax, vox), Frans de Wit (gtr, vox), Reinout Weidema (bass) and Ted de Jong (drums). I have used the b-side of their second single here, "I'm The Looser" is a great little pop song that could have been a hit world-wide. Later, Paul Natte, along with Rein van Den Broek of symphonic prog band Ekseption, made the theme tune for the Dutch coverage of the Tour de France, which was used for years. Peter van der Meulen later became a owner of The Smugglers nightclub in the town of Bussum.

The Tower - 'In Your Life' (1968)

We reach the half-way point with The Tower, who recorded two studio-only singles and have many band members listed on RYM: but I am not sure exactly who or how many of them are playing on the track I am using here: 'Slow Motion Mind'. They included Boudewijn de Groot on guitars and vox, who appears to have had a successful solo career and became a producer of some bands that I have already used before, including Kraayeveld who are coming up. Other names were gutarist Eelco Gelling who was also in Cuby + Blizards (see Vol35) and later Golden Earing, Jan Hollestelle who I mentioned previously, Jay Baar (drums), Herman Deinum (keyboards), John Schuursma (guitar), Willem Schoone (bass), Hans Jansen (Hammond organ, piano) and Kees Kraanenburg (drums). They had a keys-heavy sound that is reminiscent of Procol Harum.

Danava on stage

Danava are from Portland, Oregon. I have used a Slowbone (see Vol40) cover that appears on their 2011 album 'Hemisphere Of Shadows'. They have been around since the early 2000's and they played at Roadburn in 2008 and 2012. There have been three Danava albums to date, reveling in a mix of stoner rock, space rock, glam and all things good about heavy 70s metal. I have seem them twice and can confirm they are the real deal live; a full-on guitar bombast attack band. Tempered with the occasional moog-out, they're as close as you're going to get to going back in time to the days of the best stuff. Their current line-up is Gregory Meleney (voxs, guitar, synth), Zachariah Dellorto Blackwell (bass), Matt Oliver (drums) and Andrew Forgash (guitar).

Here's a few questions I fired at Gregory, founder of the band, for this comp:

Q1. Hi Greg. Can you give us a brief account of the early formation of Danava, and which member(s) lead the way at the beginning?

Gregory

"The original core of the group relocated from various parts of Illinois to Portland in 2002 in hopes to begin playing together, which we did by way of a Goblin cover group for a Devil's Night party. Enter Rosy Cross the Portland addition. From there we did the usual thing and it became Danava. And as a concept, musically, I'm afraid I'm the one to blame."

Q2. Where does the name Danava come from? It's sounds familiar yet original at the same time.

"Danava for brevity's sake is a demon. A race of demons to be exact in ancient Hindu mythology. Rosy Cross named us and I'm really grateful he gave us this name because of it's absolutely fantastic nature within vs the all to quick, unfamiliar and easily overlooked quality it has. Donovan? no Danava! Haha! it immediately goes in one ear and out the other. Everyone looks to Christianity for names of an evil nature. I think it ran it's course long ago and I'm glad we got the chance to embrace something far more ancient and magical, in my opinion, than your typical archetypes of the dark side. Danavas were fascinating beings. We actually don't deserve the name but I'm proud of how it's led us about for these last ten years."
Q3. You merge a more diverse range of styles than most bands. Do you treat this as a priority when you write? Or is it just what happens to come from the band's chemistry when playing together?

"Honestly a little of both. I write the music with a sense of where I come from, under the influence of what I grew up listening to. All those great fucking bands man. The real turning point is whether or not it has our own imprint within. Our voice is firmly intact. That and the fact that we love so many different musics I suppose."

Q4. Regarding the last question, are there any band members who are particularly responsible for encouraging particular elements in your sound? If so who and how?

"Yeah, like I said before it's me. I'm the instigator and I put it all together with the help of my brothers."

Q5. I have visited Portland myself, it seems to have a strong scene with a lot of great like-minded bands. What unique influence do you think Portland has had on Danava, compared to say if you had got together in Seattle instead?

"That's a tough question. Honestly Portland absolutely didn't play any role in our sound beyond just living here. If anything, the small town nature of Portland allowed time and space to keep doing what we do. Seattle would have killed us. Not our kind of town. No offense of course."
Q6. Have any other Portland bands, old or current, had a strong influence on Danava? Could you recommend some to check out?

"Oh sure one name comes to mind and that's Fred Cole (of Zipper, see Vol44). That man deserves so much more, yet I love him right where he is. I don't have the space to tell you how I feel about that guy really. Absolutely inspiring fella that one. Beyond Fred there's Stepson, XINR....the underdogs. We carry this torch for the underdogs."

Q7 & 8. Clearly you guys appreciate the lesser-known bands, having performed two covers of great bands I have used in TDATS comps so far, namely Stray and Slowbone. Could you also tell us why you chose Stray and Slowbone and if it's just a coincidence that they are both British? Can you name 3 more similarly unknown bands that you dig and why, maybe ones you would also like to cover?

"Now that's an undertaking. We've covered lots of shit live over the years. We've done The Deviants, Broughton, T2, Aeroblus, Pink Fairies and classics like Sabbath, etc. There are, as you obviously know, way too many great songs from the underground over the years. I know, for me personally, I've always wanted to do No Witch At All or Mr Longevity by Hard Stuff, Irving by Three Man Army and Just A Game by Dirk Steffens but not sure if it'll ever happen. Ah there's just too many man.Our shining moment was performing Bullets by Zipper with Fred singing and Greg Shadoan on bass. It's on youtube, THAT was fucking incredible for me. We chose Slowbone and Stray for the fact that it's great, underground and fits our style. Another lesser known reason would a man called Steve Harris."

Q9. What does the foreseeable future hold for Danava?

"New record and more touring as usual. Never stops but we definitely like to slow down and allow the space to get our head around the music rather than keep up with the business of it all."

Thanks Gregory!

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Warehouse - Powerhouse LP (1972)

The next track is from an album which I have only just found out about, and was pleasantly surprised by, as it's a horn rock album with some quite rocking moments, a real rarity to come from Holland. It's by a mysterious band called Warehouse from Friesland, and there is very little information available. I am indebted to Marc Joseph, guitarist in band Vitamin X, for alerting me to this album and finding extra information for me. It was produced by Tim Griek who was previously the drummer in the symphonic prog band Ekseption.

The Crash

The players are listed as Harry Zijlstra (gtr, vox), Quido Hereman (vox, percussion, gtr), Jan De Jong (Bass), Jan De Lang (percussion), Klaas Bootsma (keys), Jaap Van Der Veer (sax) and Andries Zijlstra (trumpet, vox). The album sounds quite commercial but it has some good tracks like 'It's life', and 'Wild one' sounds like a baby Deep Purple with the addition of spritely brass. Most of Warehouse were in a 60s beat band called The Relays, who later formed The Crash. The Crash made a 7'' called ''Last Week / One Rainy Day'' in 1969 which sold more than a 1000 copies within 3 months of release.

Warehouse

Warehouse developed from The Crash in 1969, partly as a reaction to Dizzy Man's Band (from Volendam) which was a band to also feature a brassy soul-rock vibe. Warehouse made one album, from which I have used the track 'Wild One'. The record company (Imperial) wanted them to go commercial/professional but they refused and didn't get a contract. Around 1972 John Eskes joined who was previously in Art461/Canyon. In 1974 some members had to commit to their family lives and Warehouse split, but 3 of them (Jan de Lang, Quido Hereman, John Eskes) started Zig Zag Trio, later called Zig Zag Band. John Eskes is still active and the leader of Big Band Leeuwarden 73.

Louis Johnny Bill

The Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell played at Roadburn last year (2012). They are a favourite live act of mine to watch here in London and I wrote an intro for them already on another site so I will use that here as it describes them as well as I think I am able to; "All right, Tinkerbell. You're nicked!”. Welcome back to a time when Jack Regan had the scum on the run, and gaggles of disgruntled half-naked clothing assistants had Benny Hill on the run. Luckily for us running isn’t so easy in flares and platform shoes, and sideburns cause even more drag, so this debauched admiral of the fleet will not be escaping the crowds hungry for groovin’ power-trio rock perfection.

Don't Hear It...Fear It LP (2012)

Hastings’ own Admiral Sir Cloudlesley Shovell (try saying that after 9 pints of Double Diamond) have been belting out their honest, no-nonsense swagger-filled rock ‘n‘ roll for a few years now and the world is taking notice. They played a storming set at Roadburn last year, which this devout scribe was more than happy to suffer ‘Sleep’ deprivation to experience, and their debut album “Don't Hear it... Fear it!!” is just out on Rise Above Records. ASCS are Louis Comfort -Wiggett, Bill Darlington and Johnny Gorilla. Many of you will know Bill and Johnny’s other band Gorilla, who have been pumping out their Blue Cheerful vibes since the late nineties.If 70’s proto-metal is your thing; Sir Lord Baltimore, Budgie and Buffalo get you all hot under your giant pointy collar, and you can handle a big psychedelic dose of garage punk into the bargain, then make sure you dig the Shovell!"

For the comp I have used a brilliant Buffalo cover which is the final track on Cloudesley Shovell's recent debut album "Don't Hear It...Fear It" (Rise Above Records). I have taken this opportunity to ask Bill Darlington a few exclusive questions, as he has drummed for all three of the UK bands I have used in this volume, it seemed a good idea:

Q1. Hi Bill. Could you tell us how, why and where you got into being a rock musician?

Bill

"I started playing the drums when I was 18 and from the off I was in a psych band called 'Vibraphone' with Louis (now in Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell) funnily enough! I like all styles of music but rock was where I wanted to be. I always wanted to be a drummer so I would get inspiration from the rock greats such as...Bonham, Moon, [Mitch] Mitchell."

Q2. Why did you choose drums? Have you played other instruments?

"Drums are my main instrument although, I do play a bit of guitar and bass. Like I said, I always wanted to be a drummer from an early age. I can remember at school I was pissed off that the music teacher chose a popular kid in my class to play the drums in a school play instead of me. I left home at 17 and lived with my then girlfriend in London. I've always been a tapper and she used to get so fucked off with it she threatened to get me a drum kit which she did for my 18th birthday. My neighbors hated me!"

Q3. What bands were you learning from back then?

"When I picked up the sicks for the first time I was trying to play along with The Who and Sabbath. I would have to say that Bill Ward's drumming was a massive help to me as it was easier to play along with than Moonie, as Bill is more direct and not all over the place. Two very different drummers but equally as cool!"

Q4. What UK bands were you watching live early on that influenced you?

"I have two older brothers that are musicians. My oldest brother Jay plays keyboards and my other brother Spud plays the bass. From about the age of 13 I used to go watch them rehearse or play live in London. They both played in a 60s garage band called Tilt-a-Whirl. That band was another influence on me to play the drums. When I started to play I was older and living in London and seeing a lot of bands that were actually very shit so it was hard to be influenced by anything live. One band that had a big impact on my drumming was The Morticians (both John and Louis from The Shovell). They were super heavy and loud!! John's brother Simon played a double kit and he produced a huge sound that reminded me an engine with the throttle jammed on!"

Q5. For each one, could you tell us a little about how you came to play with these three bands:

a) Josiah
"I played with Josiah first out of all three bands but only for a short while as they were based in Leicester and I am all the way down in Hastings and that's a long walk! I guess it came about as they needed a drummer at short-notice so they contacted me. I did a bunch of gigs with them and recorded a single."

b) Gorilla

"I ended up in Gorilla as they were having trouble with drummers at the time (exploding incidents, alien abduction, bizarre gardening accidents, pre opp, post opp etc...) and I had been friends with both John and Sarah for a while. It just seemed like the done thing as we all had the same musical interests and I loved Gorilla's sound. Heavy, loud and dirty!"

c) Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovell

"ASCS came about by Louis, John and myself having a few beers one night and talking about putting a band together for something to do other than drinking beer and talking about putting a band together so that's what we did!! We started off playing a few covers like The James Gang - Walk Away and Mountain - Mississippi Queen. It sounded good and right so we decided to write our own and here we are."

Q6. What do you see as some of the notable musical differences between those three?

Bill & Tony McPhee
of Groundhogs

"Josiah and Gorilla were tarred with the term "Stoner Rock" but I think that's a shit way of explaining this type of music as it's a bit lose. The term should probably be "Sabbath Rock" as that's what people are really referring to me thinks?!!Josiah and Gorilla were similar in their direction but were quite different in sound as Josiah reminded me of Sabbath but Gorilla reminded me of Sabbath with the higher octane feel of The Who or The MC5. Gorilla are more Sabbath Rock - on speed!! I used to think that playing in Gorilla was like running a marathon and having to carry your drum kit home after!! Fuckin' knackering.ASCS to me are like no other band I've been in. We are more into the likes of Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, Bang etc than just Sabbath or MC5. It has a mixture of everything I have done in the past with the other two bands, but tighter. It has the thick riffs of Sabbath and the messy rawk n roll of The Stooges, MC5 with a huge dollop of the craziness of Sir Lord Baltimore. I guess I learnt a lot with the other two bands, but with ASCS I can put it all (and then some!) into practice."

Q7. The Shovell have made one excellent album so far, and had a lot of great support slots with the likes of The Groundhogs, Orange Goblin and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. What's the plan for ASCS from here?

"Yeah, it's been a great couple of years with The Shovell! We've had a single and LP out that has had a lot of thumbs up from people across the globe, made us proud! We've also had the pleasure of some ace shows supporting some top bands. We never set out to do all of this wonderful shit but I'm mighty glad we have!

We're currently rehearsing new material for our 2nd LP which we hope to have out in the Autumn. It's sounding meaty as hell and I can't wait to get it down while it's still fresh. We have a few shows in Spain coming up next month and some locally. Also, we're playing at The Desert Fest (I'm going as Spotted Dick and Custard!!) Checkout our Facebook for more gig info."

Thanks Bill!

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Kraayeveld were a spin-off from a long-running band called The Bintangs who sounded a little like The Netherlands' answer to The Rolling Stones. After initial success with some singles, founding members Frank Kraaijeveld (bass, vocals) and Arti Kraaijeveld (guitar, vocals) left Bintangs to form their own band Kraayeveld, and the track I have used here is a live studio recording of them jamming a Bintangs track 'Hound is on the Run'. I think this version is far superior to the Bintangs one, it's rawer and heavier, which is also how the main difference between Bintags and Kraayeveld in general is usually described. Later, Kraayeveld changed it's name back to The Bintangs, to confuse matters, and now-days the only original member left in The Bintangs is Frank Kraaijeveld. Apologies for the not so great sound quality. I had to use the youtube audio, I have asked the contributer for the file but no luck as yet... but thanks to him anyway, and thanks to Walter himself for showing me this wicked track.

Smok Smoczkiewicz - Bill Steer - Ludwig Witt

Firebird (final album lineup)

Track 13 is another cover, this time from the UK's Firebird. The band was masterminded by Bill Steer in 1999, who's career started out whilst a teenager in the 80s, in the extremely influential metal bands Napalm Death and Carcass. He remained the only constant member of Firebird, which has had a rotating lineup of musicians from similarly-minded bands like Cathedral, The Quill, Spiritual Beggars and Blind Dog. Carcass still plays and is recording new material right now, but Bill's time in recent years has been equally taken up in classic/retro bands like Firebird, Gentleman's Pistols and a recently re-formed Angel Witch. Firebird split in 2011 but during their 10 years plus they played Roadburn thrice, in 2003, 2009 and 2010. For this comp I have chosen a storming cover of a Humble Pie classic, Four Day Creep, which was on Firebird's fifth album, 'Grand Union' (2009). The term 'Four day creep' derives from the phrase 'fore day creep, which was a line in the blues standard 'Outside Woman Blues' originally recorded by Blind Joe Reynolds in 1929. 'fore day meaning at night (before day), and the creep being an untrustworthy lover up to no good, creeping around at night. 'Outside Woman Blues' was covered by Cream on their second album Disraeli Gears.

For the final track, which gives this comp it's title, I have used something I heard on a fantastic compilation of rare Dutch psych 45s called 'Fantasio Daze', which I totally recommend. Opus made this cover of The American Breed (link) in 1969. It was released on Vinyl in 2000 and has since had a CD edition too. I have adapted the liner notes from the LP/CD and found a little more info via RYM: "Opus, not to be confused with the Nijmegan group of the same name, spent the years '66 to '69 on the verge of breaking through nationally, along with another Maastricht band called The Sharons with which they shared members Pierre Beckers, Jo Robeers and Frans Theunisz. Much of the Opus appeal was due to the composing and singing talent of [Englishman] Tom Winters and successful singles included 'Gotta Get High' and 'Baby, Come On'. Other members included Chrit Mandigers (keys), Rob Schaade (bass) and Frans Theunisz (drums). Following the departure of Winter, the band unfortunately did not succeed any longer. Members of both The Sharons and Opus re-appeared soon after as 'Windmill' and released a few singles on the Limburg-based Killroy label. In the late 70s Tom Winters made some solo singles, and another band appeared with Pierre Beckers and Erwin Musper of Windmill, called Partner".

'Master of My Fate' is a great song, with a lot of Beatles-ish pop sensibility and it has great guitar lines I think would sound awesome in a heavier cover, if anybody is up for it...

TDATS on:

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